


Carrier

by CaliginousCandy



Series: The Carrier [1]
Category: Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Body Horror, Character Death, Defecation, Dimension Travel, Egg Laying, Gross, Interspecies Sex, Miscarriage, Mpreg, Other, Prehensile Tongue, Stockholm Syndrome, Unreliable Narrator, Vomiting, by the way read the Author's Notes, kind of, there's only one human here and it's Tim, vomit eating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-01-21 19:08:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 12,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12464001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaliginousCandy/pseuds/CaliginousCandy
Summary: Stranded on a primordial world full of creatures he's never seen before. Bugs and mammals and avian animals (but shit those ain't birds, bitch) all over the place. It’s a jungle, the dense canopy of leaves blots the sun out almost completely. He finds a shoreline and determines that he must still be in this world’s Gotham. Or at least, the area that is Gotham where he comes from. The geography is the same.After being attacked by a suspiciously familiar version of the Joker, Tim is thrown into a world unlike any he has ever seen. Just when he thinks he can survive long enough for his family to find him, this new world grabs him and shakes things up.





	1. Birds and Bugs and Mammals! Oh, My!

**Author's Note:**

> Working Title: monster breeding
> 
> This is (apparently) part of a series that involves some very naughty Timmies messing with the multiverse and then other Timmies working to fix it. It's not posted anywhere and crosses with a lot of AUs that I and other people have, including canon ones.  
> But for this, you don't have to know any of that. You just gotta know that I cranked this (and a little more) out after a couple of beers and hours.  
> If you like it, I'll fix it up and continue. If not, it's staying up here but I'll just keep the rest to myself.  
> ...I like it so..
> 
> ALSO: While Alfred, Bruce, Damian, Dick, and Jason are mentioned, they don't actually show up. At least, not their human versions. Not until way WAY later.  
> Make of that what you will. >:3c
> 
> AGAIN ALSO: I'm tagging things that will happen later in case that interests anybody enough

Tim (As Red Robin, of course) gets pushed through a portal during a scuffle and is then stranded on a primordial world full of creatures he's never seen before. There are bugs and mammals and avian animals (but shit those ain't birds, bitch) all over the place. It’s a jungle, the dense canopy of leaves blots the sun out almost completely. 

He finds a shoreline and determines that he must still be in this world’s ‘Gotham’. or at least, the area that is Gotham where he comes from. The geography is the same from what he can see on foot so maybe the caves are there? He figures it would be dangerous to go in the caves though. he doesn't know what's in there. Judging by all the creatures he’s seen, he does not want to be caught unaware. 

Tim goes to the hills on the outskirts of the jungle where Wayne Manor would be and camps himself outside of a cave entrance. He hides himself as much as he can but city survival is a lot more different than wilderness survival. He’s feeling okay about things overall, though. He's thinking he can eat some of the creatures he's seen and the water in the nearby stream is clean. 

He settles down for a power nap. 

And is awakened by the snout of something large and armored on top of him. It nudges his face and he gasps, breathing a lung full of the creature’s breath. It’s fetid, like the thing had recently eaten raw meat after years of eating even more raw meat. 

Tim tries to breath through his mouth but when he opens it, the creature opens its own and snakes its tongue into his mouth. He screams and thrashes immediately. The taste is its breath concentrated a thousand times and it goes well into his throat, making him gag with little to no air.

Tim is suffocating and he has enough time to be disappointed in himself for letting his guard down before he blacks out.

When he awakens, he smells the damp and cold of the cave (in the way that one can smell cold when it’s early in the morning or deep in the dank bowels of the earth. _In_ the Bat Cave) and he relaxes instinctively but then he feels the material he’s lying on. It’s soft on the surface but he can feel the hard rock underneath when he presses down. Then he hears a curious clicking and the taste in his mouth makes him sit up faster than he ever thought he could. The… nest is the only part of the cave that’s illuminated and he sees he’s not alone.


	2. And You're Next!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim meets some of the cave inhabitants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna wait till Sunday to post but then I realized I'm probably gonna be too hungover so here.  
> I also realized that I can't think about this fic without hearing the title screen voice of a sony dreamcast game of the same name. It's pretty funny.
> 
> I'm gonna say it now; I think this chapter SUCKS. I hate it. The only good thing is I just now (RIGHT NOW) decided what all these critters are supposed to look like. pfft, I'm all the way into when those tags make sense and I had _no idea _what I wanted them to look like.__
> 
> __other than that, I hate how it ends and i hate the descriptions and i hate how short it is and blah blah blah_ _
> 
> __but please, I want you to enjoy this._ _

There are four hulking shadows in the darkness growling low and clicking fast outside of the jagged line of light shining dimly on him. Tim starts scrambling to the edge farthest from them but a hand...claw?? Almost the size of his entire chest pushes him down flat before the shadows stop making noise and turn as one toward the nest. Tim forces his breathing down to slow, even breaths. He closes his eyes to feign sleep (and maybe he wants it to all be a dream and when he opens his eyes again, it will all go away). 

A small eternity later, the clicking and growls resume and the claw recedes. The creature next to him looks at him with huge dark eyes and Tim stares back. This creature smaller than the one that pinned him outside of the cave and not as huge as the shadows but formidable in its own right.

This one’s claws aren’t as large, but just as sharp if the rips in the cloth part of his suit have anything to say about them, and its carapace(?) is dark, dark red, almost black in some places. The skin around those wide, round eyes looks like the soft scales of a lizard’s underbelly. Its tongue peeks out for a second, like a snake’s, and Tim shivers at the reminder of the other creature. This tongue isn’t tapered and the more Tim looks at it, the more serpentine and reptilian it seems.

When his nest-mate looks away, Tim turns back to the shadows. A huge part of the darkness detaches itself and approaches. the creature in the nest with Tim shrinks into itself in Tim’s peripheral vision. The Shadow comes close enough to be illuminated. It looks like a huge, mutated bear. Its coloring is almost pitch and it is huge. It towers over the nest, blocking what little light falls, and leans in close to sniff at both beings under it. 

Satisfied, it licks at them, long tongue wrapping almost all the way around and coating Tim and the other in thick, smelly saliva. It makes Tim gag and he almost vomits right then and there, but holds himself back when he notices the huge creature grab at the other in the nest and pull it close. It makes a noise not unlike a whimper but otherwise goes limp in the huge creature’s grip. Tim can only watch, frozen, as the huge creature rips at the smaller one’s carapace while it cries out louder each time, eyes shut tight. 

He can only describe what happens next as breeding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tim's unfortunate little friend is of a different species than the rest of those cave dwellers.   
> They use other critters like parasites. Although they can hunt on their own, their life cycle demands a host to _carry _eggs until they're ready. Hence the title. Haha.__


	3. The Creature Will See You Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim has a difficult time making friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gentlemen, check out my fic

The huge creature isn't even finished before one of the other large shadows approaches Tim. This one is not as big (but that's not much of a concession; it still towers over Tim) but just as dark. 

Tim reaches for his bandoliers. Smoke bombs, exploding pellets, anything would help at this point. He barely manages to toss a few of his discs at the claw reaching for him before the thing opens its mouth and pins his arms to his sides with a snap. It starts to drag him out of the nest. 

“Oh, no. Oh God. no please-”

Tim digs his heels desperately into the hides that make the nest up but they're only piled loosely together and get dragged with him along the cave floor. He screams when the suit is ripped off of him, armor and all, and he's licked to within an inch of his life just outside of the halo of light. It’s all he sees when he gets mounted by the creature that lay him out on his stomach, exposed. 

He knows what's going to happen next (and his brain is not helping when “I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going.” pops up). The only thing Tim can do is feel and think. All of his attempts to put himself into an unfeeling state are thwarted by the feel of the long, fleshy appendage he’s positive was not there a second ago. His measured breaths hitch and he brain coats in pure, animal fear. The last thing he thinks coherently is, “That’s not a fucking tongue.”

His vision is blurring with tears. They start to fall when the creature behind him focuses on his ass and the thing’s claws hold him firmly to the ground, cutting into his skin. His own screams join the screeching whimpers of the other creature across the cave.

It’s a long day before Tim finally, blissfully, passes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [i did that fic find your opinions and tell them to me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHHHotZfdSA)
> 
> wooooaaah here comes another chapter hold on. lemme just read it over really quick


	4. Playing House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim gets to know his new roommates, his roommates get to know him, and Tim avoids getting to know himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like this fic. I'm so glad I'm writing and posting it.
> 
> but if there's anything you don't like about this, let me know. I'd love to talk about it.

By Tim’s count, it has been a month. Most likely more. He wasn’t really able to pay attention the first few days on account of getting literally fucked unconcious every time he was awake.

He and his companion (He’s lonely so SUE HIM), have been completely stripped of their outer casings (he supposes they’re part of the nest now), and left with only the flesh underneath as their sole protection. Every single gadget and weapon he had on him has long since been either eaten or destroyed. None of the large creatures will let him or his nest-mate out of the illuminated area when they’re around. He watches to pass the time.

During the day, Tim has observed the larger creatures rest around the nest facing outwards, excluding the slowest moving and, Tim assumes, oldest. That one rests in the nest above their heads. At night, the outer-sleepers leave the caves and come back with piles of corpses, most of which they eat. The rest are pinned to the walls with bones scraped along the stone floors and walls to dry out. This fills the cave with the smell of decay, a stench Tim has long since gotten used to. The old creature cleans the nest and feeds Tim and his companion. It does this by consuming what the others bring and regurgitating it directly into their mouths. It’s absolutely disgusting but Tim had been starving. Besides, his strength is no match for any of the creatures he finds himself prisoner of and dependent on. If they hold him down to feed him, he stands no chance. 

That’s another thing; he’s ravenous a lot of the time now, as is his companion. There’s no need to be held down. They want to eat constantly and Tim lowers himself to imitation of the begging sounds he hears his companion make. He’s gotten soft around the middle in addition to losing muscle definition from lack of activity. Aside from that, everything is way more chill than those first few days. 

 

While his new sleeping schedule was easy to adapt to, Tim felt he could use it to his advantage. Tim had felt disgusting, covered in all manner of fluids. He snuck out to the river outside and sat in it for a good hour until the roaring had started from inside the cave. Then the trees around it started to fall in what Tim figured was the rage of the two creatures that dominated his time in the cave. ew. He knew they wouldn’t rest until they found him so he waited in the creek, trying to clean himself off as best he could. The creatures found him and, surprisingly, took turns carrying him back where one of them lay him tenderly in the nest. 

After that, one or both of them will carry him to the creek once a night. They watch him closely and it seems they have no idea what he’s doing but indulge him anyway. 

They’ve even started bringing his companion outside. The largest creature lifts it into trees where it spends some time scratching at the bark and tasting the air around the leaves.

Tim takes the time to look at them all with calm instead of stealing glances when they near the nest or forcing his eyes open while they violently fuck him in the dark. 

There is an obvious difference in size between the two who monopolize Tim’s time. Somehow the smaller, “blue” one seems to be higher in rank, and the other more red one defers to it. Or him?  
It doesn’t matter really. Tim could be calling them Dick and Jason and they wouldn’t know or care.

…

So he does. Call them Dick and Jason.

It feels like a betrayal to his own brothers to call these monsters by their names but the similarities are uncanny. And they only become more apparent the more Tim watches them interact with himself and the others. After that, Tim gives the largest one the name of Bruce and names the old caretaker Alfred.

He doesn’t want to think too hard about what his companion would be called so he doesn’t. Better not known.

...but as far as Tim knows, he and his companion get along very well, considering the circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty tired so I didn't actually read through it like I said I was going to.
> 
> I just got to thinking about how much I like double posts so  
> da da da DAH!! A double post!
> 
>  
> 
> [my unrelated-to-this-fic tumblr](https://sober-notsober.tumblr.com/)


	5. that feel when you go to your brother's house and he has nothing but cereal to eat and you end up with diarrhea and can't patrol and he laughs at you all night over the comms and tells everyone what happened. yeah.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim loses it, then he explores his surroundings with some friends. If you know what I mean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With all seriousness, I'd like to ask if a certain part of this fic falls under "scat" because I started adding some really in depth action there. 
> 
> uh, the part starts at "It was disturbing and painful;" and ends at "When it was over a few hours later."
> 
> just in case you don't want to risk it

Tim has lost count on how long he’s been here.

He grew ill for a few days where he could not keep anything down. He was sweating and delirious. It all stopped when one day his stomach cramped painfully while he was sitting in the creek for his daily “bath”. There was a struggle to crawl out of the creek while keeping his sphincter closed against what felt like that time he ate an entire pound of sugar-free gummy bears at Dick-- the human Dick’s place. (Who even keeps bags of sugar-free gummy bears? His entire diet consists of freaking sugar!) Except worse. 

It was disturbing and painful; he had never in his life had bowel movements like the ones he had then. There were moments that he felt his body would never recover from and whatever was passing through had literally torn its way out of him in thick solid chunks that fell with wet thuds to the dirt. Tim’s legs keep wanting to give out on him, and he even falls into his pile once. He hates to have to touch it to clean himself but the smell is not one he wants to have wiped all over his side of the nest. It’s too much like the carcasses hanging in the cave.

When it was over a few hours later, Tim drank as much water as he could, hoping to rehydrate himself before his guardians dragged him back to the cave. When they didn’t, he looked for them only to find them sniffing around where the worst of it sat in a pile. They were quiet on the way back, and Tim was thankful for their gentle tongues’ support.

His companion has inflated. There’s no other word for it but pregnant. A few times, his thoughts would stray to his sickness and the oddly colored clumps in his stool. He’d shiver and ruthlessly pull his thoughts away.  
His companion won’t let him near its belly anymore; whereas before, they would snuggle together on colder days on account of not having their outer shells to allow for the stretch of the pregnancy. (And how weird is it that Tim has started to call his suit an ‘outer shell’?)

When Tim regained some of his strength, he was allowed to explore the caves. With supervision of course. 

It was quite the production when Tim managed to fashion a torch for himself with materials from near the creek outside. He wouldn’t want to go falling to his death in the chasms he knows may as well be bottomless. Both Dick and Jason roared so loud, pebbles tumbled from the ceilings and Bruce came running.

...Bounding? He came bounding over. 

Yeah, it was a big episode. Things worked out. Eventually.

Currently, he’s looking for a new rock flat and strong enough to fashion into a sort of comb. Maybe he should just sharpen one into a blade. His hair is getting really long and if it keeps growing, he’s going to have to cut it off. It’s getting too cold to be wetting his hair every night and then getting carried back into the freezing cave. He has yet to convince any one of his two suitors to come into the nest with him to keep him warm. He guesses they don’t want to get too close to Bruce’s, ahem, “baby mama”, as the human Jason would say. Maybe Tim should just go ahead and start a new nest so his companion can have the original to itself.

So many plans and little to no time to implement them because right then, someone grabs him around the waist (carefully, of course) and drags him back into the soft, furry belly of his monster Jason. Jason growls and clicks into his ear.

“Jay, please. I’m busy.”

Tim knows it’s pretty useless; he knows they barely understand tone, but it’s just one of those things he can’t help using to cope. 

True to form, Jason pays him no mind and presses closer to Tim’s narrow back. Jason is so tall in comparison that Tim can feel his… penis, Tim guesses (it looks like its own entity. Seriously it almost has a face), prodding up near his shoulder blades. The tongue that Tim now knows greeted him on his first day outside the cave wraps around his neck, dripping onto his shoulders. It’s disgusting, Tim knows, but at this point, he is hard pressed to resist Jason’s charm. Especially after that tongue goes all the way down his front, pressing his own rapidly hardening penis between his legs and poking around at his hole.

“Oh, Jay. Okay. Ok-AY,”

Over time, Tim somehow got them into the habit of licking him open first (for his own safety, of course) with their tapered tongues before penetration with the blunt penis. At least now he can enjoy things a little. Kind of. It’s a work in progress. At least his body enjoys it. 

He even started to mimic some of their body language to ease the way. So now he tosses his makeshift light to the side and lets himself flop back so Jason’s tongue has to support him while the beast situates them to his liking.

It’s not perfect but…

Stranded Tims Make Do, he thinks to himself and lets Jason’s rhythmic thrusting and low growls lull him into a meditative state.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also, someone asked me for a description of the monster buddies and I put up a "word wall" 
> 
> if you want to read it, it's [here](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/134528109)


	6. Me Olvidaras

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim is plagued by memories of his new life and his old one, then plans to make more memories on his own terms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize now that the last chapter should have been called "Natural Disaster" because of the miscarriage. (Did I mention that was the miscarriage? Cuz that was the miscarriage.)  
> We'll blame it one the couple of beers I drank before posting.
> 
> Notes on it though: Tim's eggs didn't have enough room to grow inside of him and they broke one another. The only reason Tim's guts didn't get sliced open is cuz the shells are soft-ish. Awww... that's what Dick and Jay get when they try to share, though. 
> 
> Also, HERE'S DAMI

His companion lays an egg. It’s not like any bird’s egg he’s ever seen; more oblong and blunt than elliptical and tapered. The color is too much like what came out of him before the end of his sickness, all tan and speckled. It makes his heart throb painfully in his chest.

It shifts and twitches about for a day or two in his companion’s tight grasp before bursting in a shower of albumen and leathery shell. Within minutes of pushing its way out and getting Tim’s companion to clean it, the creature inside turns to him and begins an aggressive display. 

Immediately, Tim is reminded of Damian.

Unimpressed with the tiny clicks and growls, Tim ignores it until his companion pulls the brat closer for more grooming. Disgusting.

* * *

Although the baby’s initial display was weak, it is quickly gaining strength and growing at an alarming rate. Tim has a feeling it will really start to earn its nickname of “Demon Brat” very soon.

Tim starts to gather materials for another nest. The way things are going, he’s going to need to make one sooner rather than later. He’s just glad Alfred caught on quickly to his plans and started preparing a spot not too far from the original. Tim watches his monster-Alfred scrape and claw the rough rock floor of the cave into something smooth-ish. He steps closer when Alfred appears to be finished and rumbles in an approximation of the rolling purr his companion makes when it’s content.

Well, it looks like contentment. For all Tim knows, his companion could be complaining of a rash. Unlikely, because Alfred nudges at Tim until he turns his head up to accept some meat mush. Yum. After wiping the excess from his face and licking his hands clean, Tim crouches down to inspect the floor more closely. 

The rock still has grooves in it from Alfred’s claws, but they can be cushioned with some strategic placement of skins. Tim has also gathered some dry grasses and reeds that can be used for more separation. Yes, this will do.

* * *

Tim reviews his mental blueprint of the new nest later that day. His nest. The one he will be making for himself and his suitors. The thought makes him smile at the cave wall. 

The new nest will be deeper into the inky shadows of the cave. He’s going to miss the sunlight warming him while he sleeps but he won’t miss it being in his eyes every day about noon.

For now, he buries his face in the hides he bunches up under his head every morning and listens to the quiet snuffling of the baby and the deep breaths of the sleeping creatures around him until he drifts off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've ever seen fossilized dino eggs, you have some idea of what we're working with here. That's gonna hurt when Tim has his. (Only one this time cuz those boys aren't so dumb that they'd do it the same way again (I mean, they better not be))
> 
> On a personal note, I can't wait to watch Justice League but I gotta wait till Saturday. :,(
> 
> (since i recently wrote down the basic plot for this whole thing i want to finish before I get bored and leave it here that would be terrible irrevocable incorrigible horrible bad. don't worry, (^;', I've gotchu) (as such i'll upload chapters as i finish them) (to the best of my ability)


	7. Bio Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim gives us a lesson in biology

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do you like my chapter summaries?

It’s happening again. Tim finished the nest just in time, managing to put the finishing touches on the mass of furs and whatever pieces of his costume he could salvage from the main nest when he was just starting to feel the gnawing hunger from forever ago. 

Good. He can barely have a bathroom break without trace amounts of pain and bits of blood. At least now, Dick and Jason will leave his ass be.

As Tim watches his companion’s baby grow, he begins to wonder about what his own would be like. He’s had to come to terms with carrying in the first place. He knew it would be an inevitability. 

Damian appears to be an exact clone of Bruce in all but size. In due time, though, he’s going to catch up. (Tim finds himself relieved for the size of the cave, whereas before, he found the place barren except for the skins pinned to the walls and cold despite the surprising warmth of his companion.) That means it’s very possible these creatures reproduce asexually, only needing a carrier for the… embryo? egg? 

It was an egg that came out the first time, which Tim thinks is odd for a seemingly mammalian species. On the other hand, this is an entirely different kind of Earth than the one he’s used to. His suitors’ furry bodies suggest live births, but also have no notable differences between sexes, if they even have any se es as Tim knows them. If his theory is correct, they probably don’t. Regardless, he’s found most plants and animals brought to him to be edible, but he’s also not used to animals with scales running so hot, the way his companion does.

Everything is fascinating and Tim mourns the fact that his suitors won’t let him out to see and study it all. So, he forces himself to let it go with a huge shrug. He understands, though. They just want him to stay safe in the cave at their sides. 

(Tim doesn’t think about the very real possibility that he will die on this alternate Earth . Tim doesn’t think about never seeing his own family again. Tim doesn’t think about what will happen to him and his companion once their utility is spent.)

(At least, he tells himself he doesn’t.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm about to go watch Justice League :^)
> 
> Edit: Loved it! I had no doubt I was going to love it, but it still has to be said.


	8. Darkest Deeds: The End Draws Near?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim watches the slow, yet sure, decline of a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapters are so short, it pisses me off aaaaa
> 
> please ignore the chapter title. I don't know what i'm talking about. I just really need to name the chapters different things because it's easier for me to find the correct one when i'm jumping around on ao3
> 
> like, darkest deeds? wtf does that mean? nothing.

Tim doesn’t want to move. He doesn’t want to fucking move, and it feels like he’ll be stuck here lying on his side forever. He doesn’t want anyone else to move him, either, going so far as to attempt scratching at Dick when he lifted Tim with that tongue up near his face for the nightly trip outside. None of them tried again after that.

Then they started force feeding him again when he refused to get up to sort through their offerings.

His only consolation is Dick and Jason losing their reluctance to lay themselves out on either side of him during the day. At night they leave him and he curls up in the nest. 

His companion has been having a difficult time moving about. While Tim figures it could be because shitting that egg out hurt a lot more than the silence he woke up to suggested, it’s looking more and more like Damian is taking his toll. 

The baby used to ride on his companion’s back, leaving deep gouges in the scar tissue there. Now, Damian is almost as big as his companion. He’s taken to dragging his incubator on the cave floor whenever he wants to go outside, and Bruce just leaves them to it.

Tim would try to help except he himself is having a hard time, for one. For two, Damian wouldn’t let him anywhere near his companion. The little brat is territorial like that. Back when Tim could still move, Dick and Bruce almost got into a fight because Tim wanted to check his companion’s wounds. Dick was hovering nearby and Damian went on the offensive. 

As days go by, Tim finds solace in the growing deformity of his abdomen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> actually, the chapter title is a bunch of stuff from my days playing Warcraft 3 on battle.net
> 
> those were wild times


	9. Must Be Dickie Cuz Jay Don't Shake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim receives a long awaited delivery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/135863169)

It’s fucking happening. Right now, he means it. Alfred’s hanging around but everybody else is out hunting or being a nuisance. Tim is on his own.

He hasn’t cried this hard since his first few days here. It didn’t hurt as much then as it does now, though. No amount of sobbing and wailing is making anything go by faster so Tim settles himself in to suffer. He has no more tears.

Tim wants to die.

* * *

It’s been almost a full day. Dick and Jason came and went, paying no mind to any of Tim’s pleading. 

Tim feels something inside him creak horrendously before breaking. A split second after the sick cracking and blinding pain, his egg pushes through along with everything that couldn’t get past it. 

Shit. Literally. It’s all over his precious nest, but Tim can’t move at all. In fact, he’s afraid to. He wraps his arms gingerly around his stomach. The pain is telling and he knows from experience that pelvic fractures are not something to sneeze at. So he lies in the nest, shivering. Just marinating in the permeating smell of blood and shit soaking into the softened hides. Nothing but the egg twitching about in tiny, shifting movements behind him and Alfred scraping things along the floors and walls of the cave for hours. 

Jason approaches him near dawn to sniff around his face. 

“I’m still here, Jay.” Tim breathes out, reaching out to his tongue in reassurance. It wraps around his wrist and drags him away from the affected area. It knocks the air from his lungs. Dick nudges the egg around Tim’s body and into his front. Tim takes the hint and hugs it close. His egg is warm despite being outside of his body for hours already. Dick must have cleaned it, too; It smells like his mouth. The thought makes Tim smile and he presses his face into the smooth shell. His egg has some give to it and a tiny paw crashes into his jaw. Tim starts giggling helplessly.

“Aw, fuck,” he says. “I can’t believe you’ve done this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooo! who is that???
> 
> haha


	10. Tongue Bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick and Jason do their part

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my progress is slow going but I need to pick things up damnit.

Tim gets nudged over in his sleep, but he doesn't open his eyes just yet. Not until the now familiar tongues of his suitors lave over his sides. Tim murmurs sleepily and they take a leg each to lick over. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Tim’s suspicions about his pelvis are proven correct but Dick and Jason don't let up. 

They're cleaning him. Tim thinks it’s sweet. They're also hurting him, but Tim knows they care so he closes his eyes to cover his grimace. Then he feels a tongue slip closer to the mess between his legs. He forgot about that, too tired after the laying to bother checking the surface damage or wiping anything off.

Tim is low-key hoping they don’t want to try for another one so soon. It wasn’t so bad before, when it was just the occasional fuck from Jay or the careful prodding from Dick. Tim examines the egg in his arms to curb his nerves as those tongues lick away the garbage that came out of him. 

His egg is a little smaller than the one that Damian came out of; at least, it is in his memories. The shell itself is pleasantly warm with little texture, and what little Tim can see in the dark of the cave is dark speckled on a backdrop of light shell. The creature inside wriggles and Tim finds comfort in the strength of its limbs against his hold. 

It’s his. 

Dick and Jason withdraw their tongues and Tim breathes a sigh of relief and exhaustion. They move to their spots at his side to keep him warm. Good. It was getting chilly after the tongue bath.

Tim feels his stomach gurgle and he remembers he hasn’t eaten in days. Exhaustion wins out. He probably shouldn’t be moving anyway. Tim sleeps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be frank, i've been having a really bad time lately. Everybody says it's normal but man it feels like SHIT
> 
> but i love this story, i want to finish it and I will finish it.


	11. i fill these things out bottom-first. i copy the body of the chapter from my docs then i do the end note, the beginning note, the summary, and then the title cuz that's the hardest part (aside of the actual chapter itself)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim has a meal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if y'all've noticed but I really like nasty shit. like   
> ??? I'm not sure how to hm.  
> but yeah, you get it mhm

It’s nearing the point in Tim's mental timeline when Damian burst from his own egg. Anticipation takes the place of hunger in Tim’s mind. He can’t wait to see the creature that will emerge. He wants to know whose it is. Will it have Jay’s dark fire-in-the-distance-at-dusk coloring or Dick’s in-the-thick-of-a-moonless-night? Tim can’t wait.

His baby is getting stronger every hour. At the same time, Tim feels himself becoming weaker. That can be attributed to the fact he hasn’t eaten in awhile, but what can you do?

Tim refused to be carried outside to be with the rest of them after sundown. He pillowed his head on a pile of furs and watched Bruce lead the way followed closely by Damian, Tim’s companion on his back (how the tables have turned, he thought privately) with claws grooming sluggishly. Dick followed at a distance with Jason hesitating by their nest after him. He didn’t leave until Tim stopped trying to talk to him and cooed reassuringly instead.

Tim would rather lie here and wait for his baby.

* * *

Dick feeds him when they all come back a few hours later. Normally, Alfred would have done it, but Tim starts getting antsy when one of the others approach. It’s alright. Tim likes the intimate moments he gets to spend with Dick and Jay. 

He can't eat a lot after so many days of nausea. Regardless, what he can get down settles warm and goopy in his stomach. 

Tim misses the days when he could wander the caves with his makeshift torches and either Dick or Jason following behind. He sighs. 

Dick approaches once again. He must have gone to chew up some more of today’s catch when Tim wasn't looking, and now he leans in close to Tim’s face. He only starts to spit up onto Tim’s face when Tim kitten licks at Dick’s jaw. It’s like being showered in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really lagging on getting to Tim's little monster baby and I hate that.
> 
> >:U 
> 
> here's a fucking spell for you:  
>  **I will post again during this week.**  
>  there.


	12. Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Put Your Lips Next To Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim becomes a family man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please look! I've updated the tags. Fair warning
> 
> Just saying.
> 
> It's uh kinda gross.
> 
> I also want to mention this: the title definitely has something to do with the chapter this time. OwU

It’s fucking happening. Right now, he means it. His fucking baby is hatching. He can hear tiny, muffled growls and half-heard clicks. He can feel the strong limbs pushing violently against the walls of the egg.

That’s what woke him up, in fact. The impact of a maw against his chest. He’s had to let go of the egg. Its activity was becoming too much, and Tim can see where bruises started to form in the light pouring from the hole in the ceiling of the cave while he slept.

Now, he pushes himself up to sit and watch his baby learn to use its claws to escape. Around him, everybody else is starting to jerk awake. Dick squints in the noon light. Tim hears him start to click at the egg. There is activity behind them. Tim could care less about the alarmed squawks of his companion as it is jerked awake by Damian dragging it closer to see. 

Tim leans forward, ignoring the twinges in his pelvis, to lay a hand on the shell. Dick snarls and knocks his hand away. Tim looks at him in confusion while Jay snaps at Dick in his defense, but he supposes he understands. 

The baby has to escape under its own power.

* * *

His baby bursts forth with a triumphant squeak, showering Tim in egg gunk and splattering pieces of shell all over the nest.

Tim is so proud.

Heedless of his witnesses, Tim starts to laugh. It makes everybody flinch back a little, loud as it is.

“Oh, my baby,” he says. “I’m so proud of you!”

Tim learned a long time ago to keep his teeth hidden. Folks around here take that kind of show as a threat. Right now, he can’t be bothered. His cheeks stretch as if he never stopped smiling for… months? Years? Whatever! His baby is beautiful!

“Aw, you’re all slimy. Come here.”

The baby toddles into his arms like it knows him (and it damn well should! He’s been carrying that thing for a while now!). Dick and Jason go back to their spots in the nest to watch him scrape albumen off the baby. Damian snorts and makes sure his carrier is secured on his back before he follows Bruce back to the main nest. Alfred has taken the liberty to drag some meat to the edge of the nest nearest to Tim.

The baby squeaks some more and opens its mouth in his face. It must be hungry. This is actually the first time Tim’s seen the inside of one of their mouths. Mostly, he’s seen tongue and meat mush. His baby’s teeth are fully grown in, surprisingly. When he presses a finger onto the sharp tip of one, he feels a sting. His hand comes away bloody. 

“Yikes.” He smiles down at his baby, “You’re just a big ole predator, aren’t you?”

Dick rumbles next to Tim. Tim looks in time to see Dick’s tongue wrap around his upper arm and turn him toward the pile Alfred left.

“ _Okay_ , I’ll feed the baby. Hold on.”

Placation doesn’t work. Big surprise. Tim knows they don’t know what most of his sounds mean. Instead of being annoyed, Tim turns his mind toward the logistics of getting the food from point A to point B. Despite the knife-like teeth, Tim doubts the baby is about to rip into one of these chunks of meat any time soon. He also remembers his companion feeding Damian in a way similar to the way Alfred would when they first got here. This happened at Bruce’s insistence, though. Similar to what Dick is doing now.

Makes sense. Tim’s baby does look a lot like Dick in the dim cave light.

Dick watches him closely as he rips and chews pieces from the pile. Tim starts to turn back to the baby, but Dick doesn’t like that. One of his huge paws pushes Tim face-first into the pile, causing him to swallow what he had in there. The paw doesn’t let up. So, it’s going to be like that then. Okay. 

Tim keeps eating. He eats till he gags, until it’s too much. Dick has backed off, content to watch Tim stuff himself till bursting. Tim chuckles. It shouldn’t be so hard to feed the baby like this.

He holds off for long enough to turn back around and lean down closer to his baby. Then he can’t anymore. The baby opens up just in time to catch the contents of Tim’s first few heaves. After that, Tim feels it slowing down. Some deep breaths and he wraps his arms around his (disturbingly) flat abdomen and pushes in. His baby clicks in between each retch. It misses some and gets its barely drying fur all coated in Tim’s puke. Damn, he’s going to have to clean it again. 

Tim forces the last of it out with a few coughs. He has to breath for a few minutes. Vomiting is always hard. He blinks a few times to clear his vision of tears, and lifts his baby into his arms to hold it still. 

“Okay, baby.” His voice wavers and cracks. Stupid stomach acid. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He leans in to lick around the baby’s mouth when something impacts the side of his face.

“Baby! No. Let me finish.” It’s cute and all, but Tim has a job to do. He licks up the smeared sick, and hovers over the baby to spit it into the baby’s mouth. He smiles.

“There! All done.” His baby’s paw collides with his face again, this time hard enough to turn his head around. 

“Fuck! Heh, you know, you remind me of…” Tim trails off. He hasn't thought of his old home in what feels like years. He almost forgot the humans whose names were lent to the creatures around him now. He turns to look around the cave where his new Bruce pays no mind to the new Damian as he gnaws viciously at one giant limb. He turns to look at his new Dick and Jason that have already settled down to sleep. 

When he thinks those names now, he sees them. Not the humans he knew once upon a time, can't even conjure up their faces. It hurts to think about. It hurts to think about her. 

“... I live _here_ now.” He stares down at the tiny creature resting in the crook of his arm. “And I love you now.”

Not her. Not anymore. He has a new one now. 

“... So now your name is Stephanie. My little Stephanie.” Tim smiles at Steph. She growls in a way that reminds him of human babies trying to copy sounds. Aww.

“And _you're_ the love of my life, now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aw yeah that's some quality shit right there
> 
> A whole lot of my childhood memories are of me being sick with a stomach flu. Even now, my stomach is weak. I think about vomiting and vomit a lot.  
> Well, not _that_ much. But I think I don't mind these things so much because of those childhood flus.
> 
> ...I mean I'll still become nauseous but I can recover pretty quickly. Much like Tim does here. just wipe your mouth off and you're good
> 
>  **Before I Forget:** home stretch here, bois. We'll be having a very special Christmas and some _very_ exciting guests!! **But first,** A Very Special Episode.


	13. Work Harder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim realizes something, and then he learns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there it is
> 
> it's so long...
> 
> well not _that_ long. but man it's longer than these chapters used to be. and my style changed and now i have some dialogue... it's a journey
> 
> BUT WE'RE NOT DONE YET LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OH NO GET READY FOR

A few days of feeding Steph and hanging in the cave, and Tim has begun to feel restless. He’s actually a bit surprised it didn’t happen before this point in time, but he supposes he’d gotten used to sitting around when he was round and full of Steph’s egg. 

She’s growing up so fast. Tim sighs wistfully.

It’s almost midnight. Almost time for the daily trip outside. Tim worries about having to walk. He wants to carry Steph out on her first excursion into the outside world, but he also knows her egg pushed a little too much on his pelvis on its way out. So far, he’s thinking one of his suitors will carry him out the way they used to.

When the time comes and everyone (except Alfred) starts filing out of the cave, Tim pats at Jason’s flank when he passes by. Jason turns to sniff at Tim and the baby in his arms, then slithers his strong tongue around them. He carries his cargo out.

Tim cradles Steph closer, chattering to her the whole way and wincing when she digs her claws into flesh in her excitement to be outside. She sticks out her tiny tongue to brush against the plants they pass by. It’s adorable. Tim smiles the whole way. Jay steps silently closer to the stream and deposits them on the floor gently. 

“Here we go, Steph.” Tim sets his baby down next to him. Steph starts paw and sniff around. “Don't go too far, baby. I just want to drink some water, then I'll show you some cool shit.” Steph clicks a little, opens her mouth, and croaks at him. Tim chooses to take that as an affirmative. His Stephanie is a good baby, after all. 

Tim finds he has missed the moonlight hitting him unfiltered by a rock and stalactite ceiling. He keeps an eye on Steph while he splashes water on his face. He gets water in his eyes in the process of but it’s worth it to see Steph encounter her first flower. It’s bigger than most flowers around here and it looks like it would be bright orange in the sunlight. By the light of the moon, it looks more washed out and pale. She sniffs it, licks it a little, and eats it. Then she spits it out in disgust. Tim hasn't laughed so much since the time before. 

“Come here. Those have irritant pollen, you need to wash your mouth out.” 

Tim spends some time running his hands through his baby’s fur after helping her rinse her face. It’s so soft, a lot softer than anything the boys have anywhere other than their tummies. Must be an age thing. Or a lack of washing thing. Tim makes a face. Thinking about it is gross, but he has no room to talk. There isn’t much he can do without soap at this point. He doesn’t mind now. It’s been so long, he barely remembers washing his hair. It’s a big enough hassle cutting his hair and shaving. He hasn’t done that in a while, but he doesn’t have his things. Maybe next time.

Steph turns to where Damian left his carrier in a tree. Its eyes are open and blinking slowly but the fervor with which Tim remembers it scratching at tree bark is gone. She cocks her head and clicks quietly, as if asking a question.

“Don’t worry about it, Steph. That’s Bruce’s job.” Tim tells her. She looks at him. Tim imagines she looks kind of sad. He sighs, “Yeah, I know.”

* * *

When Bruce lumbers out of the gigantic amounts of underbrush toward the cave, Tim knows it’s time to go back home. He looks around for Jason, hoping to catch a ride again. Damian reaches up to his carrier who reaches back and lets itself fall off the branch. Steph watches Damian catch it in his mouth and start following after Bruce. 

“Oh, hi Dick.” Dick nudges Tim toward Steph. “Don’t worry, she’s fine. Jay, there you are!” 

Jason approaches and sniffs Tim’s face. Tim kisses his snout.

“Can you carry us back, Jay?”

He’s about to slither his tongue out, Tim can tell, but Dick stops him with a growl. Tim turns back. 

“Dickie?” Tim is concerned. Dick has been very aggressive toward Jason as of late. Now, Dick shoves Jason away bodily. It’s a little funny considering he’s the smaller of the two, but Tim knows he’s very strong for his size. He turns to push Tim toward Steph again.

“Dick, I know you want me to carry her, but I shouldn’t be walking.” 

Dick growls at Tim this time. He’s having none of Tim’s nonsense. Tim starts to argue some more, but Dick’s clicking has taken a really menacing tone, deep and slow. So Tim shuts his mouth. 

Okay, then. He looks back to Steph. She’s just been watching quietly. It’s unusual for her, but Tim gets it. Dick doesn’t get like this often, and not as long as Steph has been alive. She looks Tim in the eyes and squeaks. 

“Hang on, I’ve got it.” Tim remembers how his companion (Damian’s carrier, really) used to carry Damian on its back before the stupid brat broke its legs while playing. ‘Playing.’ Tim can probably make it back to the nest. Maybe. It’s not that far.

“Come on, Steph.” He grabs his baby and she takes the hint to climb onto his back. She’s not too heavy yet. Good, because this is going to be tricky. Tim doesn’t want to put a lot of strain on his pelvis (he doesn’t even know what kind of fracture he has), so he’s going to have to drag himself and Steph along the ground. 

It is what it is, and it takes a long time. Tim keeps telling himself, “It’s not that far. It’s not that far.”

When he gets to the edge of the nest, Steph steps onto the furs and takes hold of his arm in her tiny jaws. Her teeth dig in painfully, and when she pulls, all she does is slice through more of his skin. Tim’s practically crying at this point. Everything hurts.

“I can do it, Steph. I’m too heavy for you. Ow, fuck! Baby, please let go.” Tim yelps and grimaces his whole way in. Steph doesn’t let go of his arm until he’s already passing out.

* * *

In the early hours of the evening, when the sun barely peeks at the cave entrance, Tim wakes to the scratching and clicking of his baby. Sucks. The pain kept him up for half the day, and he’d barely gotten to sleep. Now this.

...How can he be mad at that face? Look at that thing, she’s so cute. Tim smiles down at his Steph, but she’s turned toward the center of the cave floor. She’s looking at the main nest, so Tim looks, too.

The nest is a familiar sight, as are Damian and his carrier. What’s new is that Damian is tugging his carrier out of the nest, onto the cave floor. There, the carrier croons at Damian. It runs its claws through some of his fur and turns onto its back, exposing that soft underbelly that Tim remembers cuddling into. Damian sniffs at it.

Tim is tense now. He has a sinking feeling in his gut. It’s been a long time since he hoped he was dead wrong.

Dead wrong? What a fucking time to make puns.

Beside him, Steph is getting excited. She’s clawing at the skins of the nest, ripping them to shreds. Normally, Tim would give her something else to tear up, but…

Finally, Damian bites. The sound… The scream is…

Tim is frozen. Distantly, he feels the warmth and fur of one of his nest-mates sidling up to him and a tongue wrapping around his middle to hold and comfort. Tim can only watch.

His old companion continues to croon and stroke while Damian eats. As long as it is able to, at least. The eating continues through its stomach, flinching and bleeding out all the way. Light fades from the cave and its eyes. The sun falls from the sky as its limb falls limp to cold stone. Damian consumes, Bruce looks on, Steph clicks, Tim cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes good.
> 
> We progress.
> 
> I wanted to make the end a little more exciting so I watched a video of a preying mantis eating a gecko alive. it was cool...  
> i still cried writing it tho
> 
>  **Next Time:** very special visitors! :D


	14. Tracking Tim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...

Bruce knows time moves differently in each Earth. They have all witnessed it the past few weeks. It could not have been so long that they can't find Tim. 

“If you don't find him, that's on you, not us.” The other version of his - Tim regarded them with suspicion when he and Dick expressed their need to find their own Tim. The air of disapproval was heavy as coordinates were set and detectors were calibrated. The portal whirled on. 

“Go,” he’d said. _And don't come back_ was implied. 

Bruce and Dick spend a day studying the Earth they find themselves on. Dick reassures that there is definitely something from their Earth here from where he looks down at the small pad in his hands. They just need to find it. Easier said than done. 

The flora and fauna, while somewhat familiar, are bizarre and dangerous. Overgrown insects crawl under the twisted roots of the ancient trees. Deer-like beasts amble out of the bushes with eyes like chameleons and feet like chickens (Bruce is starkly reminded of dinosaur legs). High up above, the branches and leaves rustle from the weight of what they assume to be birds the size of large dogs. 

“This place is a madhouse, Batman.” Dick says, cautious regardless of the lack of audience. There is little to no possibility of anything more dangerous than nature. The huge and twisted nature around them. An entire day of walking, grappling, and dodging wildlife all while setting out scanners. The sun is setting now, and Dick has dropped down in front of the hollow of a tree which Bruce has been clearing out. Bruce grunts in answer.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll shut up now. You just have to see this.” Dick holds the tablet in Bruce’s line of sight. It’s obvious what Dick is trying to show him. The area their sensors have scanned could be superimposed on a map of the Gotham they know and match up exactly. This is a possible boon. Bruce says so.

“This could prove useful.” He says lowly.

“I thought so, too. No doubt Red Robin noticed when he got here, too.” Dick drops his load of supplies with a grunt.

“We’ll rest a while, then make for the location of the Cave.”

“Aye-aye.” Dick salutes at him. Some time passes before he says anything else. When he does, his voice is painfully reminiscent of his childhood. Bruce has a brief flash of waking in the night at a child’s voice he mistook for his own amidst his nightmares only to see the tiny silhouette in his doorway.

“You think Tim’s okay?”

Bruce feels the same. As independent and intelligent as Tim is, who knows what else awaits amidst the sky-scraping trees and howling creatures of this foreign Gotham. At the same time, Bruce has to believe. There’s no other choice.

“I know he is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter again. :/ 
> 
> I was really hoping I would be able to write and post before today, but I guess not.  
> There were parties and video games and tragedies and presents and then the jaytim secret santa happened and _I had to read it **all**._
> 
> and every single time I saw a fucking mistake in someone's html i had to take a second to _calm my shit_ , because _you don't have to put a **fucking** space after **every** _**single** _bracket._  
>  oh man I just caonfussed myself. so much html. but i'ts  
> i'm 
> 
> Please excuse me. I need another beer.


	15. Hey, There He Is!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Dick visit the fucking zoo holy shit that's fucked up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn this is taking longer than I thought. But Bruce won't shut up. 
> 
> because of all the things happening and the growing length of some of these chapters, I probably won't be posting on a regular schedule cuz i'm a freaking fool and schedules are hard to follow. Also, cuz I'm really tired
> 
> i love this fic tho
> 
> **Oh, hey** , this chapter has Tim pooping. _watch out for **"They watch him drag himself"** it's only that one paragraph though, so don't worry about it._

It soon becomes clear that neither of them can manage more than a light and jumpy doze. It’s just as well; Bruce doesn’t want to be here any longer than they have to be. Dick finishes stretching out and stands up straight. Bruce gets rid of the evidence of their stay. They nod at each other and continue silently in the sparse moonlight afforded by the gaps in the canopy above.

They travel in the night as fast as they dare with the calls of a hundred different invisible creatures chasing every silent step. The tablet continues to alert them to the presence of something from their earth. There’s nothing to dissuade Bruce’s mind from the possibility of finding a pile of gear devoid of his son.

* * *

Their best bet is to climb up to the plateau where Wayne Manor stands in their own world. Scans on the way up show what they were hoping to see; a system of caves and tunnels within the rock.

Without the man-made entrances to mark the way into the Cave, Bruce knows he will have to lead them to one of the natural openings. He knows of only two. He steps carefully around the plains that overlook the dense forest in search of the hole he fell into a lifetime ago.

“Wow, that’s quite a fall.” Dick says, peering down into the dark cave. “I see something down there. Looks like a bunch of furs.”

Bruce looks down to confirm. Adjusting the lenses of the cowl, he eaks out some details. The bones of a human-sized creature cause a weight to drop in his stomach. It does ease when he sees some sort of scaled hide still clinging stubbornly in some places, but not by much. A smothered gasp next to him tells him Dick has noticed the dead creature, as well. Bruce kneels in the tall grass to watch him. 

“Gotta be honest, Bruce.” Dick murmurs. His voice is rough. “It’s not looking too good.”

Some part of Bruce is noting the lack of “Batman.” Another trembles in its corner and agrees with Dick. Yet another refuses to stop here. He has to know what happened here.

“No, but we need more information, Nightwing.”

Dick jolts at his other name. He nods once, clears his throat, and stands.

“Lead the way, boss.”

* * *

Bruce spends too much of the trip down to forest level in his own memories, ranging from rappelling down buildings with a young Dick-as-Robin on the line next to him to seeing his son hanging limp and charred in a cold place far away from home.

It’s a bit chilly now, even through the layers of armor in the suit. (But that could just as easily be his mind playing tricks once again.)

In the Gotham they know, one of the first and most frequently used entrances to the Cave was one naturally carved into the cliff face. They go there now. Dick glances at the pad in his possession what feels like every few seconds. Quietly, Bruce tells him, “We’ll find him.” He doesn’t say in what condition they are most likely to find him in, but Bruce will be damned if he loses another son.

* * *

Judging by the size of the nest, and the rest of this earth, they can expect to find large creatures around. They’re also most likely nocturnal if the emptiness of the cave was any indication. 

The ambient sounds have been reduced to the occasional rustle and some calls in the distance. They’ve entered predator territory. Dick sticks close to Bruce as they approach. His presence is as comforting as it always is.

At some distance from the cave entrance, a large shadow prowls silently. It might not have noticed them yet, but they stop and wait. Just in case. It jerks forward suddenly, and a brief shriek is heard. There is a slow, slimy sound. Then, the shadow turns and moves in their intended direction. 

Bruce feels Dick’s gaze on him. A question hangs in the air; do we continue? Bruce continues. He knows Dick will follow.

A river makes itself known. The faint sound of water making its merry way through interspersed with splashes almost masks the a sound Bruce learned well after years of having it at his side. Bruce stifles the piece of himself that wants to run and find the owner of that voice. There are dangerous creatures nearby, and he has not one but two to protect in this situation. Bruce nearly collapses from relief at seeing Tim alive and moving about, and simultaneously seizes in panic at his state and the company he keeps. 

Tim looks horrible. He’s gaunt, and a lot of the gashes on his torso and chest look infected. His hair is oily and matted. It looks like he either tried to cut his hair without looking or just chopped part of it off. There are cuts on his face, he’s covered in dirt (or worse) and blood (fresh and old). His every movement is trembly and slow. He speaks to the creatures around him. 

The creatures themselves are giant, especially in comparison to Tim. All except for one small one. It waddles around the small clearing, and always returns. If it goes too far, Tim calls it back to him. They’re shocked to realize he’s calling it “Steph” and “baby.”

Dick is a tense pillar at Bruce’s side. Bruce can tell he wants desperately to go to Tim, and Bruce has to stop him. The creatures will see them. No doubt the small one’s parents are nearby, too.

As if summoned by his thoughts, two of the giant monsters wander over to Tim. Distantly, they can hear him address them. This time, they seem to answer him.

“Hey, guys. Is it almost time?” Tim asks. The smile on his face is a little strained. The smaller of the two leans in to push Tim out of the water. This must be the small one’s mother. In the darkness, they look nearly identical. Tim swats it lightly as if to push it away. He can’t. Even if he were as strong and healthy as he was the last time anybody saw him, he wouldn’t be able to.

“I’ll get her, just let me--,” he says

They watch him drag himself a few feet away from the miniature, and scrape some dirt away to dig a hole. If it could be called that. He can barely hoist himself up into a kneel over the indentation to relieve himself. His feces falls with a distinct mushy quality that speaks of poor diet, and there isn’t that much of it. Bruce doesn’t let himself be worried yet; he makes note of it and moves on.

Tim coaxes the small creature into his arms and onto his back. He half crawls and half drags himself to where Bruce knows the cave entrance is. From where they’re hiding, any leg injuries would not be visible. It would explain why Tim is not walking and had not been standing. 

Regardless of the integrity of his legs, the fact that he is dragging himself along the ground with a small animal digging its claws into his back is worrisome. Now they know where all his wounds are coming from. Bruce clenches the hand not on Dick’s arm into a tight fist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that Bruce would most likely be speaking to himself as Batman (except for the part where they see poor monsterTim, dead as dust) but by then I had already posted chapter 14 and was halfway through this one and I wasn’t about to go back and change all that shit in two different places (here and my documents) so oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	16. This is the Last Time I'll Abandon You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim gets picked up from the park. Time to go home, Timmy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Holy shit, _finally_**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Almost _3 weeks_! I'm so sorry. I just couldn't. 
> 
> _First_ , I couldn't figure out how Bruce and Dick were gonna do the thing, then Bruce wanted to freaking _ruin the plan_. I hate him  >:(
> 
> and i finally just sat the fuck down and did it. Good.  
> ...not saying this is good, though. not feeling too good about it.
> 
> What I am feeling good about is finishing regardless!

The portable device adapted from the large portal machines used during what is now known as the _Black Pearl Crisis_ only had limited charge, and finding anything specific and powerful enough to recharge it would take up precious time. Time they needed to formulate a plan to retrieve Tim. Bruce decides on taking one trip back to their own Earth to gather enough supplies and gadgets. Hopefully, it would be enough, and they would only have to stay for less than a week. 

They spend the next few days observing the cave. It was difficult to remain hidden from so many creatures, but they found that the animals have poor eyesight. Especially in sunlight. After that, it was a simple thing to disguise their scents. Dick snuck into the cave from the hole above the nest to set up several bugs.

It’s disturbing to watch Tim interact and talk with them as if he were speaking to his family. They learn that Tim has become unhealthily attached to the one he calls “Steph.” He spends a lot of his free time reassuring it and the rest of the cave’s inhabitants (or himself) of its innocence. His moods are sporadic and they swing like a child on the playground swing-set. At one moment, he could be speaking idly while moving parts of his nest over, and the next he would be sobbing into the fur of the one he named after Jason. 

They take turns suffering through the observation; self-inflicted punishment. Logically, there wasn’t much they could have done to prevent Tim’s impromptu journey, let alone the events that sparked such an event in the first place. The guilt is still there. Bruce can see it in the set of Dick’s jaw and the furrow between his brows. He can feel it in the tenseness of his own shoulders and the heavy vice around his ribs.

* * *

They learn much. They learn the names of the rest of the beasts. Dick found it funny when the two solid black monsters were called Bruce and Damian by Tim.

“That’s Tim for you,” he said. “He’s got you guys down pat.” It was a meager attempt at his usual humor in the face of what looks to be more and more like Tim seeking comfort in a family that let him down. A fantasy constructed in the face of adversity and trauma.

They also learn about what happened to one the cave’s previous inhabitants.

Tim speaks to himself a lot more than he used to, possibly in an attempt to keep himself company. The creature that spends all of its time on or around Tim grows at an alarming rate just in those few days. Tim feeds it constantly (if this is how he’s been spending his time, it’s no wonder he looks as starved as he does). He’s attached and he’s started convincing himself of the need for he himself to be consumed. To be eaten like “Damian’s carrier.” He’s starting to be happy about it.

This information pushes the time table up.

* * *

The afternoon before Bruce and Dick plan to put their plan into action, sit in the grassy plains on the plateau and watch Tim sleep. He looks so small in between the two large creatures holding him prisoner. It’s been years since they’ve gone this long without fighting. To think it would be because of Tim in mortal danger. 

“...He won’t come willingly.” 

Bruce debates letting Dick go unanswered. They both know the answer already, but leaving those words hanging in the air above them feels wrong, damning.

“No, he won’t.”

The plan is a _simple distract and retrieve_. Before dusk settles in to transition into night, Bruce and Dick trap several animals they’ve seen be grabbed by the devastating tongues of the monsters. Wrapped up, crushed, and pulled back like a frog’s prey. They will be released in close proximity to the giant beasts, and lure them away from the creek where Tim sits every night. Bruce and Dick will move in, subdue the small creature, grab Tim, and get through a quick portal as soon as possible. They have sedatives should Tim struggle too hard or one of the creatures come too close. There is always the possibility that they won’t work on the monsters.

“Guess we’d better be quick, then.” Dick says.

* * *

The creatures amble out of the mouth of the cave, their large, padded paws making almost no sound at all. Bruce waits for Tim to push himself closer to the little river before giving Dick the signal to release the cages. The rustling of leaves and panicked calls catch the creatures’ attention. The three largest go off in separate directions; the smaller black one presses itself closer to the ground and disappears in the underbrush.

From his seat at the creek, Tim sighs.

“Looks like it’s just us now, huh Steph?” he says, smiling fondly at the creature snuffling about the dirt behind him. 

Bruce receives a positive signal from Dick moments before he steps out of his own hiding place. 

“Not so much, little brother.”

Tim startles, immediately reaching for the creature. In any other situation, Bruce would be feeling pride at his dramatic entrance. He steps closer. The little animal turns in his direction and growls. Tim is already tugging it to himself, but he doesn’t seem aware of Bruce’s presence just yet. He needs to use that to his advantage. The animal goes first.

Bruce trusts that Dick will grab Tim immediately after he gets the animal out of the way. It lets out an ear-splitting screech, most likely to call the other monsters, when he takes it from Tim’s weakened grip. It digs razor sharp teeth deep into the Bat-gauntlet in front of it. Bruce can feel them penetrate his skin. At the same time, Tim nearly gives himself whiplash with how quickly he turns his head, effectively shifting his focus. He’s become sloppy. Bruce jabs the creature before it can turn its head.

“Steph!” Tim yelps, and reaches for Bruce even as Dick scoops him up in a bridal carry. He thrashes in Dick’s hold, never taking his eyes off the animal in Bruce’s arms. Bruce has to look away from his face; the screaming and crying is bad enough, and Bruce has a job to complete.

“No,no, please! Steph… What did you do? What did you do to her?! Baby, please! Wake up.” He’s sobbing now, and Dick is starting to struggle. All his soft words are becoming lost in the growing din. The monsters approach. Bruce pull the small device from his belt, and takes aim.

The gooey sound of the portal opening is drowned out by a roar. They’re here. Bruce pulls the little monster off his gauntlet, and sets it down as quickly as he can. The large one identical to the baby charges from the trees. Bruce stomps down shot of panic, and pushes Dick ahead of himself, shouting at him to go. Tim has only started to scream louder, begging the creature to save him. 

Bruce doesn’t dare turn his back on the creature as it opens its mouth. He can barely feel the cold-fog feeling of the portal at his back. He can’t close the portal too soon, or he will be torn apart, stuck between his world and this one. Tim’s screams fade, which means he and Dick have made it across. Bruce must hurry.The creature’s tongue shoots out of its mouth at the exact moment he jumps back. 

The spaces between worlds made by the machines Joker Jr. and that other Red Robin built are quiet and gray, like suddenly dying and being born all at once. It’s not so much a limbo as a compromise, a cut-off point, a line drawn between, a wall falling in between to separate things that should not mix. Although not catastrophic, something or someone crossing into another Earth changes things irreparably without causing new branches to form. As such, the balances of those Earths become compromised.

Bruce feels the tongue wrap around one of his boots while he falls through to the other side of the portal. For a sick moment, he thinks he’s about to get pulled back, then his back hits stone and his hearing comes back in time to hear Dick attempt to console Tim.

There’s a tug, and Bruce closes the portal. The tongue falls to the cave floor, and there’s only the sound of the cave’s generators.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels anti-climactic :/ and weirdly cut off at the end. and like there are missing parts, because there are. The _Black Pearl Crisis_ is something I have been working on in my head for, like, the past 2 or so years. Not sure how to go about writing it out though. the bare minimum has been explained in order for this fic to make sense, so you don't have to worry about it.
> 
> We're almost there, kids! Home stretch, maybe! Who's excited? OwO
> 
> ...also, i really feel like I gotta take a grammar class.


	17. Just a Motherfucker that Wanna be Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At home, things escalate. Then they calm down. Sort of?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a couple of things,s
> 
> This took me a whole lot longer than I had hoped it would. I have started taking a grammar class at the same time as (it seems) my entire life has decided to shit on me. But, you know. Fools gotta make do.
> 
> um, I would like to ask you all what you'd like to see Tim or anyone else deal with. It's important to keep others' mindsets in mind (hah) most of the time. lay it one me, bros
> 
> also, i wrote the end notes while drunk. i wrote them right onto the google document (because, like it or not, google owns my soul ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ) and i'm drunk right now. tell me what you feel about that, too. I'm open to all kinds of constructive criticism. I appreciate feedback, as do all (or most) fic writers hah
> 
> fun fact: aFTER i started writing this, i started commenting more often, because of how I feel when I get comments on this fic (and others! did I tell you someone commented on my old homestuck fics? it was so exciting, i tell you what). 
> 
> FUN FACT #2: I respond to comments sober because I only check my emails during the day. so don't worry about that.  
> if it was a thing anyone was worrying about at any point in time.
> 
>  
> 
> **I really appreciate and love all of those who read and commented and kudos'd. For real, my dudes. you kept me going. really proud of this, my first _complete_ fic. dog bless **
> 
>  
> 
> fuck factyt #3: ttile from one of my fave songs of all time, _kill yourself (part III)_ by the $uicideBoy$

Tim screams. His captor finally put him down. He should be using this opportunity to run, but he can’t look away from the long tube of flesh still twitching on the floor. He knows that tongue. There’s the familiar nick on one side that Tim’s arm would naturally rest in. Wrapped up in that warm appendage, safe. That’s Dick’s tongue. His Dick. His Dick got his tongue cut off. 

And there it is now, unattached to anything or anyone. How will Dickie hunt now? How will he greet Steph or Jay or Alfred or Bruce or Damian--

Or Tim.

He’s sobbing now, vision so blurry he stumbles as he turns away. Tim needs to move or at least sit down. His legs have weakened since he stopped walking in the hopes of letting his pelvis heal. Although what would be the point? Steph was going to eat him regardless. It wouldn’t be so bad, he told himself, but he still couldn’t bring himself to stand before now. 

First, he needs to get away from these… These--!

But he knows them, which makes this all the more tragic. Gives him even more anguish. More pain aside from Steph’s gashes, most of which have begun to bleed again from all the excitement. He can feel the blood rolling down his sides, drops fat like the tears on his face. 

Batman and Nightwing. The human Bruce and Dick. Possibly his originals. How could… 

“How could you do this to me?” Tim says. He doesn't actually expect an answer. He’s gone so long without any human voice other than his own that hearing Dick… No. Hearing Nightwing speak to him was frightening. “Do you know what you’ve done?!” 

“Tim,” Batman steps toward him, cowl down. Tim eyes his hands. He knows how dangerous Batman’s hands can be. 

“Don't _touch_ me!” His voice is echoing, but all the metal in the cave makes it sound different. It’s not the same. It’s not the same! “It’s not--” He catches himself about to think aloud, as has become his habit. He can’t keep standing; it hurts too much. 

Tim’s legs collapse under him when he tries to take another step away, but he dares not wince in the fear of having Batman or Nightwing out of his sight. Especially considering what they’ve already done to Dick.

(Oh, his tongue. It’s still there it’s still--)

It hardly seems to matter to his eyes, as full of water as they are. Oh, no. Steph. What will she do without him there to feed her? To hug her and keep her warm? Dick won’t do it. He’s too busy hunting. Except he can’t now…

But Steph! She needs…

“She needs me, Batman! Don’t you see?” Tim scoots himself back, away from Batman, away from Nightwing. “It’s part of their life cycle. They have to… They have to eat the carrier. The babies.” It hurts to scrape himself along the stone, but their blurry forms keep advancing. No amount of blinking is clearing his vision. He wants to squeeze his eyes closed. Maybe it’s a nightmare. He wants it to be a nightmare. He _needs_ it all to go away. Soon, Steph will start wiggling in his arms to wake him up for breakfast, and-- 

Maybe if he bites his lip hard enough, the pain will startle him awake. Anything, please. Anything at all to awaken from this dream where the father of his child has lost one of the most vital parts of himself. Where his child is left without a carrier, such an important part of her life! To awaken from such a nightmare, he would give anything! 

His back hits a bar of metal, and he hears the distant voices of these men, these monsters, echoing in the cave along with his own voice, distressed as it is. But bars of metal mean structures, and structures mean cover. He remembers that much.

Tim grabs the bar to drag himself under whatever it is for cover. Then he attempts to put himself back to sleep in the vague hopes of waking up.

* * *

Dick reaches for his long lost little brother where he hugs his legs to his chest. He’s so thin and shivering. Morbidly, Dick thinks he looks dead already instead of in the process of starving to death.

“Timmy, hey. It’s me. It’s Dick.”

“Dick, no!” 

The warning is a little late. No sooner than the words leave Bruce’s mouth, Tim grabs the encroaching arm. Really digging his nails in and tugs, using Dick’s unguarded and unbalanced stance. Dick falls to the floor with a pained grunt and Tim pounces, snarling and scratching at his face. Yikes. Dick has enough time to get his hands in front of his face before one of them gets bitten open. Tim’s savage screeching is replaced by Dick’s pained screaming.

“ _Fuck!_ Bruce, _do_ something!”

Bruce doesn’t want to hurt Tim but something must be done. He can see Tim start to let go of Dick’s hand in preparation for the original target; he has no choice. 

He grabs and lifts Tim (it’s easier than it should be), slides his right arm around the front of his neck and under his chin, grabs the opposite forearm, and holds Tim’s head still with the left hand. Classic chokehold. The suit’s gloves are still on, so he has to avoid injuring Tim with the bladed sides. 

Were Tim in his right mind, he would be able to get out of it. As he is now, he claws futilely at the bracers and attempts to stand. Tim only succeeds in dropping Bruce on his ass, which he uses to his advantage. He pins Tim’s legs by winding his own around from behind. Tim has been rendered immobile.

He thrashes for a good 5 seconds before passing out. Bruce lets up, but doesn’t let go. Alfred steps closer to administer a sedative.

“Are you alright, Master Dick?” The only evidence of his being shaken by the attack is the way he presses his lips tightly together. Truly, Tim is beyond troubled. 

“I’ll live,” Dick smiles weakly at Alfred. “But you don’t supposed we can find me something for my hand? Little brother’s got some teeth on him, heh.”

Bruce feels the tension bleed from his muscles. :With antibiotics and treatment, Dick’s hand will be fine. He can see that from here. Tim has yet to awaken thanks to the sedative, so it’s safe to let go. Crisis averted.

Now, the hard(er) part.

* * *

Tim’s X-rays come back. 

“He has an old ‘open book’ pelvic fracture,” Dr. Thompkins says with a sigh. “Mostly healed on its own. Based on what you’ve told me, however, it probably healed incorrectly.” 

“Is it too late for anteroposterior compression?” Bruce, not Batman, asks. The doctor doesn’t like being in the Cave, much less speaking with the Bat instead of the Man. Bruce can’t detach himself from the situation the way he so desperately wants to.

“At this point, it could either do nothing or cause him a lot of pain.” Her look says _who’s the doctor here?_ Bruce chooses to ignore it.

“Neither of which are optimal,” he touches his hand to his chin in thought. Putting himself into a medical mindset usually helps, but it looks like Dr. Thompkins isn’t having it.

“Bruce,” Leslie is looking at Bruce square in the eyes. She’s all doctor now, and Bruce suddenly feels afraid. “What happened to him.”

He can’t say anything. It feels like this is a culmination of all the thinly-excused injuries and midnight surgeries overlooked across all his years as Batman. He’s barely prevented her from going to any kind of authority or publication service before, barely stopped the calls to Child Protective Services many times, barely kept himself from begging (even if only in his own mind) on hands and knees for her to keep the secret. Bruce suspects it must have been only the memory of his father that kept her from exposing Batman to the world.

The look in Leslie’s eyes only hardens the longer he stays quiet. Only the whole truth will satiate her now. Bruce hopes it will be enough.

He has nothing else to give.

* * *

Most of his original world’s family have come to see him. Tim can see in their eyes how disturbed and saddened they are by his condition. He didn’t think it was so bad before, but he has to remember; this is a completely different place from the world he’s been on for who knows how long. Their customs are different, and their feelings are as well. He feels like he has to learn it all over again. Tim’s trying to remember all the books he read on abnormal psychology and psychological disorders, but everything feels jumbled in his brain. Like it’s all trying to come back at once. Like a computer trying to download a billion files at the same time without enough processing power. 

Tim knows he didn’t have to fight Dick (and it feels _so fucking weird_ to be calling this person _Dick_ after what he thinks must have been months of seeing that _other_ one and calling _him_ Dick instead) when all he was trying to do was comfort him. He was just so… _so **angry**_. Thinking about it even now is making his body start to feel hot and his jaw clench. 

He sighs. There are no holes in this cave ceiling, but the sight of rock up above is comforting nonetheless. He’s just starting to miss the three warm bodies that would press up against him every morning when a weight settles to his left.

“Hey, Timmy. Feeling better?” Dick’s (Tim shudders) hand is wrapped up to the point of being more cast than bandage. Tim can’t look away from it. Dick looks too, and smiles. “What, this?” He lifts it away from where it was resting lightly on his leg. “Doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

Tim knows he’s lying. It hurts in his chest to see Dick trying so hard to cheer him up after what he did. And now his vision is blurry. Great. Dick’s eyes soften impossibly more than before, then he uses his good hand to wipe some tears away. Tim can see (barely) that it’s strange for him to see Tim cry. It’s been so long since anyone looked and listened to him when he did this. When he let his face crumple and let all the fluids that wanted to come out to do so and let his every breath come and go as loud and agonizing as it felt it had to. 

The echoes are still different, but he thinks he’s starting to remember a time when _this_ cave was familiar instead of the other one. Then that makes him cry even harder. It hurts to the point of not being able to distinguish between the physical hurt and the emotional hurt. Dick just hugs him close as he wails his hurts into the stone and metal abyss.

A while later, Tim feels wrung out. About this time on his now-familiar emotion roller-coaster, Jason (the other one. Boy, this could get confusing fast.) would give his face a thorough cleaning. The warm flesh of his tongue would be comforting, and his spit would replace the slimy feeling of snot and tears. Now, this human Dick hands him a cardboard box from a tray nearby. It takes Tim a couple of seconds (he still remembers how to human. Kind of.), but he pulls a tissue out before Dick can get too worried.

“Hey, we’re sorry about what happened to, uh,” Dick looks pained as he apologizes for the crippling of the father of his baby (wait, should he even consider her his…). Dick. The other Dick.

...Tim’s Dick. After all this time, it’s almost impossible to think of him as otherwise. 

“Dick,” he says, “I called him ‘Dick.’” Tim can’t look at … his brother. Yeah. He can’t even look his brother in the eye. He continues to use one tissue to clean his face until his brother takes the soggy mess in his hands and replaces it with a new, more clean tissue.

“...Yeah. We’re sorry, Tim. It just….” 

Tim knows when he’s been set up for a meme when he sees one. (It must be his brother’s way of testing him. Testing to see how much of him survived his ‘ordeal.’) So, he brings his hands together in front of his stomach, mindful of the IV needles in both of his wrists..

“I get it. You just…” Tim’s voice cracks, but he has to finish this. Even if only to comfort his brother. He clears his throat, “had to do it to ‘em.”

Dick searches his face for who-know-what while Tim holds the pose. It’s part of the whole thing, after all. Finally, Dick smiles so widely, his eyes almost close all the way. He gathers Tim in a hug. Tim sighs.

He doesn’t have to be eaten anymore. They won’t let him go back. It’s kind of a shame. Tim was looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> __  
> **that’s it** **it’s finished**  
>  That’s the last chapter . i need there to be little one-shot stories of the mentioned family visits or somethingto that effect. There might not be but i really want there to be. I would really like it if I did do that. Yeah uh-huh
> 
>  
> 
> as always i was drunk. And i ruined my own mood with that **STUPID** fucking **MEME** there. You know the one. It wa s all sad then I typed it up and i fuickskgnin had to cover my mouth so as not to laugh too loudly. Too raucously. Tooo…
> 
>  
> 
> **Okay**
> 
>  
> 
> Dr Leslie Thompkins is a hard character for me to write, mostly because what I know about her is almost entirely from other fics. To me, she’s a pinnacle of good, a pillar of doing the right thing the right way. She hates Batman and she wants to always tell it like it is. Most of all, she wants to help. Anyone and everyone that she can.  
> But she’s also very rigid in her morals. If she knows something is wrong, it’s wrong to hell and back. No arguments. For this reason, i find it hard that she would let Bruce go on with his Bat-insanity. There’s almost no way at all, and she’s not afraid to fight him on it even if it would lose her all the funding she gets from WE for her clinics in Gotham. She would find a way, no matter what. So, i’m kind of really suspending my own disbelief for this one and also for that one time she helped fake steph’s death so she could get away from Gotham. There’s only so much Alfred can do, after all, and Batman needs a doctor.

**Author's Note:**

> thoughts?


End file.
